McDonalds 2000 Annual Report Download - page 14

ally demonstrate that we value our employees,
their contributions and their growth. It starts with
treating them with respect, recognizing their con-
tributions and providing them with meaningful
development opportunities and the resources to
do their jobs.
Showcasing excellence through friendly com-
petition is one way we instill a sense of enthusi-
asm and fun among our crews, while honing
their skills. Crew competitions within and among
McDonald’s restaurants are held in many mar-
kets, including Japan, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay
and the U.S. In fact, the best of our best were
rewarded with the opportunity to serve up
Big Mac sandwiches and fries at the 2000
Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Among the
20 countries represented on our “gold medal”
crew team were Belarus, Chile, Denmark,
Greece, Indonesia, Russia and Venezuela.
Since excellence at the restaurant begins with
the manager, we are recognizing the top 1 per-
cent of our U.S. restaurant managers with the
recently created Ray Kroc Award, a recognition
named in honor of McDonald’s founder. We
brought these very special managers together to
celebrate their successes, share best practices
and identify opportunities for improvement. In
addition, they helped us to better identify the
leadership skills that drive excellence in our
restaurants on a day-to-day basis.
Serving up smiles
Customers today have many choices. They are
more discerning and are demanding more from
McDonald’s. So, we are determined to capture
more eating occasions by serving the great food
they want and providing the fast, friendly service
they deserve.
We are expanding proven McDonald’s prod-
ucts into new markets and adding new tastes to
the menu. Now, for example, Guatemala,
Malaysia, the Netherlands, Poland, Taiwan and the
U.K. are among the many countries where cus-
tomers are enjoying refreshing McFlurry desserts.
And we are testing breakfast menus in several
countries, including Sweden and Switzerland.
Also, recognizing that spicier offerings would
appeal to local customer tastes and make cash
registers ring, a team of owner/operators and
employees from Southern California went to
Mexico to benchmark our product offerings
there. Using those learnings, they worked with
our menu management team to develop authen-
tic Mexican products with local appeal, such as
breakfast burritos, chicken and beef torta sand-
wiches and several Mexican desserts.
We also are giving customers more reasons
to visit our restaurants with our New Tastes Menu
in the U.S. This initiative is designed to provide
an ongoing rotation of food news and to firmly
establish McDonald’s as the place for variety and
value. Driven by consumer research and enabled
by the Made For You food preparation system,
McDonald’s New Tastes Menu is a vehicle by
which markets across the U.S. can select and
showcase limited-time breakfast, lunch/dinner
and dessert offerings that have local appeal.
12 Smile
Customers today
have many choices,
and we are working
hard to be their first
choice every time
they visit a quick-
service restaurant.
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